Conveyer



l J.`A. MACLENNAN.

CONVEYER.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZ. i917.

Patentd Feb. 17,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

J. A. MACLENNAN.

CONVEYER,

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2. |917.

' Patented Feb. 17, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lj/e 72250? Joke/@ MS/mim.

JOSEPH A. MACLENNAN, or rnrtanntrnra. PENNSYLVANIA; asstenoa Tro LINK-BELT COMPANY, or unicaen, ILLINos, a ooaronarron or rumors.

Conversa.

manege.

vSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Fehn 1'?, 1920.,

Application filed May 2, 1917. Serial No. 165,836.

tothe'loading of boats and the like where it `1s desirable to convey or lower material trom an elevated position to a lower position without breakage of the material. One object ot my invention therefore to provide means t'orlowering material such that the material may at all times flow in a contin- `nous smoothly moving' unhurried stream.

Another object Ais to provide an extensible `section which will maintain the material always under control as it is being feddowni Wardly and which willncver let .it d-rop or vfall freely. 'time to time' in the speeitication.

' ldiagranimatically @ther objects will appear Jfrom "My invention is'illustrated more or less in the accon'ipanying` drawings, whereinh Figure l is a section through a boat showing apparatus in elevation with-parts broken x1 so out;

Fig. 2

ratas;

Fig. 3 is a detail otl the lower end of the i telescopic chute on a' largervscale part in section and part in elevation.

Fig. 4; is a section on an enlarged scale showing a detail.

Like parts are indicated by like characters in all the drawings. c

A 1s a ship or boat having an open loading Y hatchway A1, adjacent the dock at J upon Vwhich is the loading trestle A3.

. ,L a@ is a dump track adapted to support any suitable railroad car not here illustrated. A is ay working` platform carrying' the usual hous- 'ing,fconta1nin'g the usual operating mechanism. This platform is supported on trucks i AG, A6, and adapted to travel along the trestle. It islprovided with a tower AT thereupon. and has pivoted thereon a boom AS by the usual drum A10 on the plat'orin.

B ,is a track hopper adapted to be filled is an front elevation of the appa# with coal or other material from cars which travel alone` the track provided with a Controlling gate li operated by means of the belt l2 whereby the flow ot material may be controlled. This material is adapted to discharge into the hollow fixed column B3. 'llhis column is' arranged in a fixed position on the structure or may be suspended from the platform as the case may be. Its front side is open as at B4. it is adapted to be closed b v the foot l? which arries an inclined feed platform .li rthis foot is also adapted to carry a series et telescopic shutters l?. These shutters are adapted to close the troni, open side. of the column and these shutters are so arranged that when the foot l'vis in raised position the plates are all supported by it. its the toot is lowered the column is closed above the Afoot so that there is always between the gate B1 and the 'feed chute l a continuous column of material. rl`he hoistingv line il is provided whereby the toot and plates may be raised and lowered alonc' the column at the will ot the operator. The part l discharges into the adjustable chute il which may be raised and lowered by means of hoisting lines B10 so that its position may be changed in a vertical direction and so that its angle of inclination may be changed both at the will of the operator.

C is a hopper into which the chute B discharges. ltft'orms the upper eitremity of the telescopic chute or as l have called it an extensible, section made up ol a series ot separate telescopic cylindrical sections C1, C2, C3, C, C5. rThere may be more or less oiE these sections. They are arranged so 'that the upper one is the smaller, the lower one is the larger. This etleetually prevents bridging' ot' material across inside the sec'- tion. The, lower section is mounted on a housiinq C". This housing is of larger diameter than the section and within this housing` the section is enlargetL as indicated at C", and forms a narrow outlet throat with the conveyer belt C". `rl`he enlarged openA scopic chute or extensible section is fed up frombeneath the column and discharged into the bottom of the boat. The housing 'C6 is suspended `by hoisting lines D3 one on either side extending up 'over the boom A and controlled fromV the working platform by any suitable means not here shown.

It will b1! evident from my drawings that while I have shown an operative, device, still many changes might be made both in size, shape and arrangement of parts without departing materially fro'm the spirit of my invention and l wishtherefore that my drawings be regarded as ina sense diagrammatic.

I have shown my extensible section as made up of cylindrical sections. Obviously it might be made of rectangular, quadrilateral or polygonal cross sections, it being only necessary that the section be hollow and closed so as to provide a vertically disposed chute or column. or extensible section through which the material may descend.

The hopper C is supported by a suitable tackle from the frame arm A8 as indicated whreby it may be manipulated.I I have not shown the specific means for fastening the separatesections of the telescopic ftube together so thatv one can lnot slip through the other. Obviously there are thousands of ways in which this mightbe done, and since it florms no ypart of the subject matter of my invention I have notvcomplicated the case |by showing or describing such means.

The use and operation of my invention is as follows The operator will start in to fill the boat with the covered chute in the position shown in full lines and with the extensible section in its elevated position with all the telescoping sections one inside. the other. If there is no material in the apparatus he will proceed to fill it up first having coal dumped in the track hopper then starting the controlling gate controlling the discharge from the track hopper to fill the'upper end of the fixed boom. The material in the upper end of the fixed boom will -travel down through the covered chute untilthat chute is filled. It will then fall into the hopper at the upper end of the extensible section and fill the upper part of the extensible section and this material which will .drop down along the system will be stopped by the conveyer belt at the bottom of the extensible section. The material which 'will be added then will fill the entire section so that the material' will be at rest and the section will be filled with it. When a boat is brought up to the wharf and is about to be loaded the operator'will lower the extensible secsystem will be filled at all times, that is to say the material will be fed just fast. enough to keep up with the increased capacity of the system as the extensible section is lengt-hened out. As soon as the housing at the lower end of the extensible section reaches the bottom of. the boat the con-l veyer at the bottom of that -housing will` be started and the material will be fed away from the bottom of the extensible section into the bottom of the boat. This process will continue. The material following it will fill the system as it is taken away from) the bottom until the boat is filled. As the boat is filled and the level of the materi l in the boat rises. the extensible section be raised a short distance at a time unti the entire boat is filled. When this is done the operation will be stopped and the apparatus drawn out of the boat ready for another filling.

The conveyor belt will at all times sup-v port the load and hold it stationary except when the belt is in motion. When it is in motion, it moves the material out and dumps it. At all other times the arrangement of the parts is such that the load column is firmly held.

I clailn:

1. A conveyer comprising a downwardly 9.5 conveying section adapted to deliver material in a solid column, means for delivering material to such section, and a laterally traveling discharge conveyer disposed across the lower end of such section so as to receivel a descending column of material directly, and positively convey it to one side of suich section. said conveyerl being in@ clined upwardly away from the lower discharge end of such section.

2. The combination with a closed vertical feed tube, a discharge chute communicating directly with the bottom thereof and means for raising and lowering the chute, of a vertical telescopic feed tube associated at its upper end with the discharge end of the chute, means for raising and lowering the upper ond of such telescopic tube, and for raising and lowering the lower end independent of the upper end and means at '115 the bottom of the tube for controlling the discharge of n'laterial therethrough said control means comprising a traveling conveyor extending across immediately beneath the bottom of the telescopic tube adapted to support the lower end of the column-of material therein and to feed' such material to one side out of line with the column.

3. Thel combination with a vertically disposed closed discharge pipe for coal and the like of a conveyer belt extending across the bottom thereof and substantially closing such bottom. such belt being arranged to support directly the column of material in the tube and to discharge a stream of material from the b'ott'om of the column to one side of the direction of flow only when the conveyer is in operation, a housing inclosing said conveyor and adapted to completely close and surround the lowei1 end of the tube except Where theI conveyor discharges outwardly through the Wall thereof.

In testimony whereof, I aixmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses this 28th day of April, 1917.

JOSEPH A. MAoLENNA-N.

Witnesses:

R101-IARD W. YERKES, MoRRIs WELDm. 

